"Honey please": Kimberly Guilfoyle reportedly asked a Trump donor to pay her $100,000 Amex bill

"Honey please I need you to get this done for me today."

That is one of the messages Kimberly Guilfoyle sent to a Trump donor, according to The Wall Street Journal. The donor is Eric Deters, a lawyer and businessman from Kentucky. The Journal says the message is dated 3 July 2025.

Six days later, Guilfoyle sat before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She was there to win the job she holds today: US ambassador to Greece.

The Journal reported the story late on Wednesday 7 October. By Thursday, reporters were putting it to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who happened to be in Greece. Guilfoyle's lawyer says the messages may not be real.

What did Kimberly Guilfoyle ask Eric Deters for?

Money for her American Express card. The amount was $100,000.

The Journal says it reviewed messages between the two on Signal, an encrypted chat app. Guilfoyle allegedly sent Deters a payment document for her Amex account, with a prayer-hands emoji. She then called him twice, the paper reports.

One alleged message reads: "It won't show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express." It was followed by a single word: "Please."

Deters did not pay. He told the Journal he could not do it without it costing him his marriage.

Other messages, as quoted by Fox 5 and the Daily Beast, show Guilfoyle reportedly warning him to keep things quiet. She allegedly asked him to "stop papering all these things" and to just call her on Signal. In another she reportedly wrote: "I will be your Trump ride or die, forever and ever."

The Journal also reports that she complained to friends that she was "broke" before her hearing.

Who is Eric Deters?

Eric Deters is a Kentucky attorney and businessman. He once ran for Congress in the state. He is 63, according to the Daily Beast.

He is also a MAGA donor. The Journal says he wanted Guilfoyle's help to get the new Trump administration's attention on personal tax and legal problems.

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That is where the money gets bigger. According to the reporting, Deters had promised her up to $1 million if she lobbied the administration for him and it worked. He says he had already paid her about $300,000 over the years.

$100,000.00Amex bill she asked for

$300,000.00What Deters says he paid her

$1,000,000.00What he reportedly promised for results

Amex bill she asked for	$100,000.00
What Deters says he paid her	$300,000.00
What he reportedly promised for results	$1,000,000.00

Source: The Wall Street Journal, as reported by Fox 5 New York and the Daily Beast (October 2026). Figures are Deters' account.

His complaint is simple. In a message quoted by the Journal, he says he had "not received one favor" for that money. "I am not naive or a sucker," he wrote. "I need results."

Deters says he owed Guilfoyle nothing.

Photo: U. S. Embassy & Consulate in Greece / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

What does Guilfoyle's side say?

She denies any wrongdoing.

Her lawyer, Jesse Binnall, told the Journal he disputes that the messages are authentic. He did not give specifics.

Binnall also offered a reason for any money talk. He says Guilfoyle "was owed a balance" for traveling to and supporting "patriotic events" before she was nominated. In other words, her side frames it as payment for speaking work, not a favor.

Deters rejects that. He says there was no unpaid balance.

An official at the US Embassy in Athens also defended her. The official said her record shows "deep and abiding values." The official added that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee vetted her and the full Senate confirmed her.

That confirmation came on 18 September 2025. She was one of 48 Trump nominees approved together in a 51 to 47 vote, Greek Reporter noted at the time.

What did Rubio say about Guilfoyle?

Not much, and that was the story.

Rubio was in Greece when the report broke. He was asked about it more than once. At one point he said: "Our ambassador has been a strong ambassador here."

On Thursday he would not comment on the claims. He said he did not know whether the report was true. "It's not the gospel," he said of the newspaper story, according to the Associated Press. "That's not the way we do things."

The Daily Mail called him "testy" and said he snapped at reporters. The Washington Post reported that Vice President JD Vance also brushed off questions about the claim.

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Rubio would not say whether the State Department will open an inquiry.

Photo: KOE / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Who is Kimberly Guilfoyle?

Guilfoyle, 57, is one of the best-known faces in Trump's circle.

She started as a prosecutor in California. She later became a Fox News host, and then a familiar face at Trump rallies.

She was also engaged to Donald Trump Jr. The two have since split. Deters says he told her he could not pay because of his own marriage, just as she was "freshly split" from Trump Jr., the Daily Beast reports.

Trump has a habit of standing by his allies in public. We saw that recently when he gave Elon Musk the country's top science medal and praised him as a modern Edison.

Is Kimberly Guilfoyle being investigated?

Not formally, as far as anyone has said.

But pressure is building. The top Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have called for an investigation. They want the State Department to review her conduct.

This is not the first time the Journal has looked at her time in Athens. Last month it reported that Guilfoyle promoted the business of one Greek construction and energy company. The paper said she let the firm's lobbyist into private diplomatic meetings. It also reported that she told guests the US could undermine the Greek government if it chose to.

Congressional Democrats were already examining those claims before the Amex story landed.

Photo: U.S. Department of State / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

What happens next for Kimberly Guilfoyle?

Democrats are in the minority in both houses of Congress. They cannot force a probe on their own. The State Department, which Rubio runs, decides whether to look into its own ambassador.

So far Rubio has backed her in public. That fits a pattern in this administration, where loyalty counts for a lot. Trump made the same point in a different way recently, when he said he could have done "very bad things" to his rivals and chose not to.

The messages themselves may decide what comes next. Her lawyer says they are not authentic. Deters is not backing down, and he has already released photos of the two of them together.

And one more text in the Journal's story stands out. When Deters copied a podcast producer into a message about money, Guilfoyle allegedly snapped back: "What a nightmare you'll literally cost me my ambassadorship stop writing."

She still has the job. For now, the ambassador to Greece is the one waiting to see whether that text comes true.